Chapter 2: The Pet Shop

The door chimed indicating the entry of a new customer.

Not just any customer, but the Malfoy's at that.

Narcissa Malfoy looked down at her precious son tugging on the hem of her prized dragon hide coat.

"Mummy," he whimpered. He tugged again to get her full attention. "C-can I get a puppy?" he questioned carefully.

"Of course that's why we're here." She cried. She was just glad he didn't want that African, blood-sucking bat screeching in the storefront next door.

She kneeled down next to him and her coat brushed the glowing linoleum slate next to stacks of crates housing multiple magical creatures. Draco stepped past each cage and stuck his fingers between the bars to them. They kept sleeping, not even slightly rattled by the disturbance. He notice one particular dusty, vacant crate sitting alone in the corner. Still staring, he slowly pulled his fingers away from the feathers of a glow-in-the-dark parrot and stepped towards it. Dirt trailed from the small open door and ended at the feet of a fat, ugly pug sitting silently next to the store owner's feet.

A scream lodged itself in Draco's throat and he stumbled backwards into his mother's arms.

"Why isn't that dog in his cage?" cried Draco. The pet shop owner suddenly went red.

"That's my daughter," he said slowly through clenched teeth.

A stubborn Draco pointed and shouted, "but I can see the fur poking out of it's shorts!"

Lucius snickered and shook his head. "It is so cliche to dress up animals these days. They'd think we were muggles."

Narcissa shoved the heel of her boot into his foot and he howled in pain, hopping on one leg. "That should shut him up," she muttered.

The store owner stared angrily at Draco, who was still pointing. The 'daughter' crawled closer to Draco, and he sank deeper into his mother's embrace, trying to shrink himself down into a little ball. Then he realized something - she was beneath him in the general hierarchy of the wizarding world. Regaining his composure, he stood up straighter, and stared down at the ugly ten-year-old sitting near his feet. She looked up at him, and he met her hideous glare head-on. If eyes were truly the windows to the soul, then hers was the most repulsive he'd ever seen before.

"This is my daughter, Pansy" said her father, recovering from previous awkwardness.

"She must be bloody awful," Lucius said. He thought he said it under his breath, but the owner's eyes went wide and his back stiff.

Pansy still sat at Draco's feet. "That's where you belong," Draco spat.

Pansy got to her feet, her head reaching only just above his waist. She smirked, looking pointedly towards his belt. "This is exactly where I want to be," she said, and winked, already adapting to her whorish tendencies.

The door then chimed again. Draco turned to see who had just entered. He gasped, a joyous smile gracing his features. Pansy spun on her heels to see who he was looking at. She pivoted on the rubber soles of her shoes.

She was shocked to see how such a plain looking girl with frizzy brown hair and huge buck teeth could bring such a smile to his face. While Pansy saw a plain looking girl with frizzy hair, Draco saw something completely different. He sighed and felt his breath catch in his throat, before him was the most beautiful girl he had ever laid his eyes upon. She had silky, honey brown hair that fell in elegant curls framing her delicate face. She had eyes like none he had ever seen before. If eyes were truly the windows to a person's soul, then her soul was absolutely beautiful. Draco wondered why he was thinking these things about Hermione, she was practically his sister. Shaking his head at these thoughts he turned back to Pansy, albeit unwillingly.

By now Pansy was fuming. Smoke was literally streaming out of her ears.

Draco coughed and exclaimed,"You know you can kill someone with second-hand smoke."

At the moment Pansy really didn't care if Draco just died in a hole, and she told him that. Draco turned to her and smacked her arm, he then abruptly turned to leave.

A little boy with dark skin and equally dark hair then called from behind Pansy with a smug smirk, "Hey dude, that's animal abuse." Draco and the boy immediately erupted into laughter, clutching their sides and leaning on the walls for support, they both knew this was the start of a great friendship.

Draco turned to the boy to introduce himself, "Hi, I'm Draco, Draco Malfoy."

The boy turned to shake Draco's outstretched hand, "Nice to meet you Draco. I'm Blaise."

Draco said goodbye to Blaise and walked over to Hermione who had just entered the shop.

Hermione looked up and saw Draco walking towards her. She smiled and asked "Are you ready to pick out our new puppy?"

"Yeah, what do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking about a white Pomeranian."

"Okay, we can ask the shop owner if he has any."

They walked over to the shop owner and told him what they were looking for. He showed them to the cage that was situated in the far left corner of the shop the puppy was in the second cage from the bottom. Hermione peeked through the bars of the dogs crate. It scuttled towards her and she poked her fingers through to pet it. She knew right away this was the dog she wanted.

Hermione rushed over to Narcissa. "Can we get the white pomeranian?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"Did Draco agree with your choice?"

Hermione ran over to where Draco was standing. "Can we get this one?" she asked and glanced at him expectantly.

Draco looked uncertain.

Hermione turned back to them. "Yes."

Narcissa and Lucius looked to the shop owner, "What's his – her?" – the owner shook his head – "What's his name?"

The pet shop owner replied, "His name is Buttercup."

Narcissa walked gracefully over to the shop owner and said, "We'll take the Pomeranian."

The shop owner nodded his approval and motioned to the cash register at the front of the store indicating that he would ring them up. "That'll be one hundred galleons."

Narcissa nodded and motioned for Lucius to come over. Lucius payed the shop owner and Hermione carried their new puppy while Draco carried the food, food dish, collar, toys, leash,etc.

When they returned to The Manor, Hermione and Draco took Buttercup to their secret room.

Hermione gently rocked Buttercup in her arms," This is are secret room so you cant tell anyone about it, okay?"

Draco scoffed, "Who the bloody hell would he tell, he's a dog he can't speak."

Buttercup nipped at Draco's finger.

"Ouch, he bloody bit me."

"Well maybe if you had been nicer to him he wouldn't have bitten you." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"Fine, I'm sorry." Draco said.

"It's not me you should be apologizing to." Hermione stated.

"Are you bloody kidding? Fine, I'm sorry Buttercup." Draco said petting Buttercup's soft fur. Buttercup jumped into Draco's arms a snuggled closer to his chest.

"Hey, back off he's mine." Hermione said jokingly.

Draco looked up at her, his eyes widened in shock. Hermione realized what she had just said and, mortified, immediately ran from the room.

Draco realized what was happening and with a smile he decided this would be good for their arranged marriage. He quickly shook these thoughts from his head; he shouldn't be worrying about marriage, he was only ten after all.

* – * – *

Draco ran down the stairs, so excited that today was his birthday. He entered the kitchen and sat down for breakfast. He noticed that Hermione was sitting at the table waiting for him to come before she ate her own meal. Draco did as expected and poured himself a bowl of sugary cereal with melted ice cream that sat at the bottom of the bowl. There was a dish of raw sugar sitting dutifully at its side. This was his normal birthday breakfast.

Draco dumped five tablespoons of sugar into his already far too sugary cereal. Hermione rolled her eyes at the amount of food he could eat and wondered how he could hold it all in.

"I don't know," Draco responded, turning back to his cereal.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione questioned, suddenly very confused.

"You asked how I could eat so much," Draco stated as though it was obvious. He knit his eyebrows when she stared at him. "What?"

Hermione looked extremely puzzled. "I didn't say that out loud, I thought it."

Narcissa, who had been watching the ordeal on the side, realized it was time for her to intervene. The realization hit her hard; she dropped the ladle she had been holding and it hit the floor with a loud clatter.

At that same moment Draco took a spoonful of his cereal and spit it out immediately, noticing that something wasn't right. Hermione bursted out laughing, startling Narcissa from her trance.

Draco glared at Hermione, "What did you do to my cereal? It's my birthday – would it have killed you to be nice to me for just one day?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Yes, it would have," Hermione replied nonchalantly.

Narcissa decided to stop them before they got into a row. She held up a hand, signaling them to be quiet. "Just – just try to get along today," she said with an exasperated sigh. Narcissa swiftly left the room, leaving the children in a baffled silence.

Draco glared at Hermione again and got up, wiping his face and throwing down his napkin. He left the room as well.

Hermione leaned across the table and dipped her finger into the mush of sodden flakes and sweetened milk that now sat in Draco's bowl. She smelled it first then tasted it. It was not sweetened at all. In fact, it was even salty. She smiled devilishly; then her lips tightened in disgust. She got up and made a scene of pouring it into the sink. The milk splattered her shirt, so she wiped it off with Draco's napkin.

Hermione stooped to the floor, lifting the ladle from the stained tiles. She waved it about the room, pretending as though it were a wand. A can of tomato paste fell to the floor a few feet away, staining the tiles even more so. She pretended to scoop it up with the ladle, cleaving the air with the large metal spoon. Surprisingly, the paste flew to the ladle's small, rounded bottom and sloshed up the sides. Hermione threw it into the large pot of soup Narcissa had been cooking and left the room.

* – * – *

Narcissa spooned large servings of soup into deep bowls, handing them off to her family. Hermione heaved her mini pot onto a space on the table in front of her. Draco did so too, resulting in a loud clatter that startled the spoon out of Hermione's hand. She angrily picked it up from the floor and wiped it on her shirt, dipping it into the fine, deep red substance and slurping it into her mouth. She smiled with deep ardor for the meal. Narcissa commented on how it tasted much different from the last time she made it, how it was so much better and she couldn't believe it came out of her own kitchen. This made Hermione smile for a different reason. They enjoyed the rest of their dinner in silence.